Welcome back to a new term. Unfortunately, it is the last term of the year and the last term of schooling for our young men in Year 12. It is our aim to make it as memorable as we can for these students through our Year 12 Rite of Passage program and recognition of their work through some of the events within this term.
Whilst cleaning up my desk over the holiday period I came across an article that I have had for many years. I often used it in my Religious Education classes. It was written by Fr...
Welcome back to a new term. Unfortunately, it is the last term of the year and the last term of schooling for our young men in Year 12. It is our aim to make it as memorable as we can for these students through our Year 12 Rite of Passage program and recognition of their work through some of the events within this term.
Whilst cleaning up my desk over the holiday period I came across an article that I have had for many years. I often used it in my Religious Education classes. It was written by Fr Richard Rohr, O.F.M., and Joseph Martos. The article is entitled Eight Good Reasons for Being Catholic. It talks about Catholicism’s rich 2000-year tradition of living the Gospel and of the wisdom that comes with this. Over the next four weeks I will share these eight good reasons for being Catholic.
Firstly, they speak of how our religion has an optimistic view of creation. In our faith, all of creation is good as it was created by God and is an expression of God’s wisdom. Catholic wisdom says that the world and everything in it is a gift from God and a sign of God. As Catholics, we see our God shining through all of creation and are grateful for what we have. Secondly, Catholicism has a universal vision. In fact, the original meaning of the word Catholic is “universal”. Our Church was first called Catholic after the Roman Empire converted to Christianity. The first universal Church council met in Nicaea in 325AD and our faith was formulated by the bishops of the time. We recognise this today by saying the Nicene Creed during Mass. Our faith is world-wide, and the vision of our Church is also an expression of a universal people. Consequently, as Catholics we are called to look at “the person” where they come from or their differences, but a person just like us. We are called to be non-judgemental and see each other as equals and respect the dignity of all. In this way, Catholics are called to look at the world and all people in it from God’s perspective, and not from a nationalistic or ethnocentric point of view. The Catholic vision, when lived to its fullest, should reflect a concern for all humanity.
On Monday we welcomed Mrs Megan McVeigh, Mrs Tara Dunn, Mrs Lucy Hulmes, Mrs Gayle Rush and Mr Kevin Van der Weide to our teaching staff for the term. They are replacing the staff who are on leave during this term. We are looking forward to working with them and having them within our community for the rest of the year.
We also welcome back Mr John Tucker and Mrs Sandra Cartwright from their leave during last term.
Over the first three terms, we have been undertaking a middle leadership review. Because of the review, we have restructured the middle leadership organisation starting from next year. Some current roles have been removed and three new positions have been introduced to lead us into the future aligned to our strategic priorities. These roles include a new Director – Junior School (Years 5 & 6), Director – Senior School (Years 10-12) and a Director - Pedagogy and Learning Innovation. We have also appointed two new permanent House Deans to replace Mr Peter Bancroft and Mr David Ludlow starting next year as well.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Ms Paige McDonald and Mr Tim Hoysted will take the roles of the new House Deans. Mr Jonathan Brough will be the new Director - Senior School. Each of these staff members is known to our community as they are currently on staff. Our other two appointments are external and new to our community. Firstly, Mrs Celia King will take the role of Director – Junior School. Celia is currently at St Benedict’s College at North Lakes and has extensive experience in Catholic education within the Toowoomba and Brisbane Catholic Education Offices. Furthermore, Mrs Ralda Deoki has been appointed to the role of Director – Pedagogy and Learning Innovation. Ralda is currently the Director of Curriculum at Canterbury College and has a wealth of experience across a range of schools within South East Queensland and overseas. We are very fortunate and pleased to welcome both new staff members and look forward to working with them and growing from their expertise.
There will be some other internal changes made over this term due to the new structures. We will announce these as they take place.
Mr Doug Locke has also decided to step down from his role as Director of Sport from next year. Doug has done a great job in this role and I would like to thank Doug for everything that he has done over the past four years to build our program to the place it is now. Doug’s meticulous planning and friendly smile and transparency have been the hallmark of his time in the role. Whilst disappointed in losing Doug from the role, I am also very excited to announce that Mr Daniel Nethery will replace Doug. We are very fortunate to have a person of Daniel’s experience with sports administration and coaching within our staff and I am confident that he will lead our program to greater strengths into the future.
During the last term, Mr Luke Oxford also advised me that he wished to stand down from the First XV coaching role. Luke has many Rugby commitments outside of school and next year will coach the Norths premier team. I would like to recognise the amazing efforts during Luke’s tenure as coach of the First XV over many years, culminating in our first Rugby premiership for a First XV team since 1952. Mr Joshua Neilsen has been appointed as the new coach for next year. He is well known as a Rugby coach within our community as well as a past Rugby player and St Patrick’s First XV player in years past. I am confident that he will continue the great work done by Luke and lead the program into greater heights into the future.
Over the holiday period, many of our young men and staff were involved in activities such as the Timor Leste immersion, annual ski trip, Track and Field training and clinics and participation the inaugural Australian Honours Ensemble Program (AHEP) run by Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium at Southbank. The many young men would not have had such opportunities if it were not for the generous time of our staff members. Their time and efforts are certainly appreciated, and I am sure that each young man has taken the opportunity to thank them.
In the early weeks of the last term, we asked our parents to participate in a national EREA survey aimed at gathering information about why parents choose EREA schools for their children. Overall, we had 420 responses. This was very pleasing for us as it represented over one third of our family population. Nationally, there were over 5000 responses. In the last week of the holidays, I received the information and feedback for our College and comparative data for schools within the northern region and national landscape. Our leadership team will look over this information and look for any feedback that will assist us to further improve in what we do at St Patrick’s. Thank you to the many parents who took time to complete the survey.
We will also close our parent feedback survey on the St Patrick’s College Strategic Plan (2019-2023) this afternoon. We have received some very useful feedback from many parents on-line. We have now given opportunity for the entire College staff, the College Board, representation of over 200 students and our families to have input into this plan. From here, we will work with Mr Damian Brennan to complete the plan and have it ready for implementation starting next year.
During Tuesday’s Assembly, Westfield Chermside presented an award and cheque for $10,000 to Mr Ken Gray. Ken was the winner of the Local Hero Competition championed by Westfield. Our school community had the opportunity to congratulate Ken. He received the award for the work that he has done in the local community through our Paddy’s Van. Many within our community only consider this service to be available to staff and students, but it is also an opportunity for parents and others to be involved if they wish. Ken has offered his services and assisted our College for the past 14 years at Decker Park and the Sandgate Lagoon. He is a great role model as a Man of Action for all our young men. The $10,000 will be placed into the College Foundation funds that are set aside to fund the Paddy’s Van.
On the last Saturday of the holidays, our Year 11 student leaders met to plan the Year 11 Leadership retreat. It will be held at the College throughout the day and evening over next Monday and Tuesday and on Wednesday, the young men will move off campus in their house groups. I am looking forward to a great retreat with all our Year 11 students during this time. From what I have observed with the student and staff planning, it will be a challenging and rewarding three days.
Over the last three days, students in Years 5 - 10 have participated in some testing designed by the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER). Generally, these tests looked at the numeracy, literacy and general abilities of our young men. We use the results to track students and cohort growth over the past 12 months as well as any challenges or gaps that we may perceived to be addressed. I would like to particularly thank Mr Troy Schultz for his planning and facilitation over the three days and the students who were outstanding with their cooperation and efforts during this time.
We have just heard the sad news that Br Jack Dowd has passed away today. Br Dowd was at the College from 1975 to 1982 at which time he undertook many building and refurbishment projects as a master builder. The College currently has the Br Dowd Building named in his honour. May he rest in peace.
Live Jesus in our Hearts!
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